Admissions

The requirements for admission to the graduate program in Computer Science are:

  1. A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. An undergraduate major in science, engineering, mathematics, or computing is desirable, but individuals with other backgrounds who are interested in the program are invited to discuss their career objectives with the program director.
  2. An undergraduate grade point average of 2.75 (A=4.0) or above.
  3. GRE general test scores taken within 5 years from the term for which admission is sought. A score of 650/800 in the Quantitative section is preferred.
  4. An international applicant whose native language is not English is required to demonstrate adequate proficiency in English. Applicant should have scored at least 550 on TOEFL paper exam with a minimum of 50th percentile in all three sections or at least 217 on the TOEFL computer exam with a minimum of 4.0 on the essay. TOEFL scores older than two years from the term for which the admission is sought are not valid.
  5. Submission of a statement detailing the applicant's background and career plans. Forward your statement detailing your background and career plans to the CS Graduate Program Director, Campus Box 1656, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), Edwardsville, IL 62026.

3+2 Program

The Department of Computer Science offers a five-year program leading to the Bachelor of Science (BS) and the Master of Science (MS) degrees. Undergraduates with senior level status (at least 90 semester hours) and a grade point average of at least 3.0 (A = 4.0) overall may be admitted to the BS-MS program. They may then take 34 semester hours of graduate level courses (400- and 500-level) during their combined senior and graduate years. An application for degree-seeking status as a graduate student must be approved by the Graduate School and the Graduate Committee in Computer Science following the procedures described under "Admissions". A program outline must also be submitted for approval by Graduate Records and the director of the graduate program in computer science prior to enrollment in any courses to be included as a part of the master's program. Official admission to the program and to status as a classified graduate student is made only after the award of the baccalaureate degree. In no case will a graduate degree be conferred before all requirements for both degrees have been completed.


Prerequisite Courses

Students entering the program will need the specific background detailed below. Normally a grade of B or above is required in each of the prerequisite courses. For those students who do not have all of the necessary background, some of the prerequisite courses may be completed after enrolling in the program. Students who have completed these courses but received their undergraduate degree from a non-ABET-accredited program will be required to take CS 501. Please note that none of the prerequisite courses actually count toward the Master of Science degree in Computer Science.


CS Courses
C++ Language
CS 140, CS 150, CS 240
Algorithms and Data Structures
CS 340
Computer Organization
CS 312
Operating Systems
CS 314
Math Courses
Calculus I
MATH 150
Discrete Mathematics
MATH 224
TWO Additional Math Courses
Calculus II (MATH 152)
Linear Algebra (MATH 321)
Statistics (STAT 244)
Graph Theory (MATH 422)
Other Approved Courses

Program of Study

The program requires 34 semester hours and consists of five core courses and completion of either a Thesis option, a MS Project, or passing of the Final Exam. The Thesis option requires six elective courses with 6 semester hours of thesis. The MS Project option reguires seven elective courses and 3 semester hours of MS project. The Final Exam option requires eight elective courses and successfully passing the Final Exam. At least 19 of the 34 hours must be 500-level courses or above. For the purposes of assessment, students are also expected complete 2 anonymous graduation surveys at the conclusion of their graduate program here. Students in the program must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 in all graduate courses. Any course in which a grade below C has been earned will not count toward the graduate degree. Students who received their undergraduate degree from a non-ABET-accredited program will be required to take CS 501, a prerequisite courses that does not count toward the Master of Science degree in Computer Science.


Computer Science Core (10 hours)


Elective Requirements (24 hours)

Twenty-four (24) hours are required for the Final Exam option; 21 hours together with 3 hours of CS596 are required for the MS Project option; 18 hours together with 6 hours of CS 599 are required for the Thesis option. Up to 6 hours of courses not listed below may be taken for graduate credit with the approval of the CS Program Director.


CS Elective Courses

A student may take one other elective course (see list below) from outside the CS department. He/she can take additional outside electives if the courses are considered part of the concentration as approved by the graduate program director.


Non-CS Elective Courses


Exit Requirements

Thesis Option

The culminating thesis is a research project that builds on existing knowledge and includes some novel elements. The project may include major software implementation or software development as part of a research effort, or it may be primarily theoretical or empirical in nature. The novel element could include a new algorithmic technique, an empirical study of existing techniques, or a unique application of existing techniques. The thesis becomes an SIUE publication and may lead to a conference or journal publication.


Non-Thesis Option

In place of the CS 599 Thesis credit hours, non-thesis option students may either take three additional credit hours of approved graduate-level electives and complete an MS project, or six additional credit hours of approved graduate-level electives and pass a Final Exam.

  1. Final Exam - This is a non credit exam, given once each semester (fall and spring), for students who have completed at least 21 hours of graduate credit. Refer to the Final Exam Guideline for additional information.
  2. MS Project (CS596) - This is a 3 credit hour elective course whose oral exam will serve as the MS exit exam. Please refer to the MS project document for additional information.

Research Interests

Professor Interests
Dr. Dennis Bouvier
Psychology of Programming
Scientific and Information Visualization
Human-Computer Interaction
Bioinformics
Dr. Igor Crk
Operating Systems
Energy/Resource Management
HCI
Dr. Gunes Ercal
Theory (algorithms, game theory, graph theory, randomization)
Networks
Dr. Hiroshi Fujinoki
Communication Networks
Operating Systems
Graph Theory
Dr. Thoshitha Gamage
Cyber Security
Cyber-Physical System
Dr. Eren Gultepe
Machine Learning
Unsupervised Learning and Clustering Analysis
Biomedical Imaging
Dr. John Matta
Complex Networks
Machine Learning
Graph Theory
Computing Education
Dr. Mark McKenney
Databases
Spatiotemporal Databases
Spatial Modeling
Geographical Information Systems
Location Based Services
Dr. Jerry Weinberg
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Mobile Robotics
Robotics in Education
Human-Computer Interaction
Dr. Xudong Yu
Artificial Intelligence
Knowledge-Based Systems
Data Mining

For graduate catalogs, guidelines, forms, exit exam study guides, and more, please visit our Downloads and Forms section.